Origin

The original Bizarro from the pre-COIE continuity was a result of a scientist demonstrating his duplicate ray to Superboy, Superman when he was teen. The duplicate ray created an imperfect duplicate of Superboy. Superboy regarded the imperfect duplicate of himself as bizarre. The creature misheard him and thought he said 'Bizarro' and took on the name Bizarro. The creature possesed chalky, white skin along with childlike behavior. After the citizens of Smallville shunned Bizarro, Superboy was forced to kill the doppelganger with the remains of the duplicate machine though Bizarro collided into the machine destroying himself.

Later on after Superboy became Superman, Superman's arch foe, Lex Luthor tried to recreate and perfect the duplicate machine created by the scientist years before and tried to recreate Superman hoping to have his own Man of Steel to do his bidding. This again produced an imperfect duplicate which was named Bizarro. Like the earlier version of Bizarro, this version had chalky, white skin and childlike behavior. He often talked in opposites. This Bizarro instantly fell in love with Lois Lane and a imperfect duplicate of Lois came to be and Bizarro and his own Bizarro Lois went on to find their own Earth and created their own Bizarro World.

In recent years after many retcons, the Superboy history was taken out and Clark has only ever been Superman. The origin where Bizarro was created by Lex Luthor is often times used.

Creation

Superboy #68 (October 1958), Bizarro's first appearance.

Bizarro was created by Otto Binder and George Papp and first appeared in Superboy #68 (October 1958). After the character was killed off in his first issue, positive responses and the realization of how many young readers related to the character Bizarro was brought back in the Superman newspaper strips then later in the comics in Action Comics #254 (July 1959). Bizarro's return included the involvement of the arch Superman foe, Lex Luthor. Bizarro also gained his familiar reverse Superman symbol that is often associated with the character.

Bizarro proved to be popular enough to be given a back up feature in Adventure Comics for 15 issues. Before the time of the the Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot done in 1985, Bizarro appeared in 40 comics. The COIE reboot undid Superman's history of being Superboy which made Bizarro's origin to changed to model the widely accepted Lex Luthor origin tale. Remaining in continuity, Bizarro became regular part of the Superman mythos.

Character Evolution

Silver Age

In his original appearance in the Silver Age, Bizarro was created as the result of a duplicating ray that was aimed at Superboy. This version of Bizarro bore some resemblance to Frankenstein's Monster, and died at the end of his first appearance. He reappeared, again as a duplicating ray creation, shortly after his original death, and in this version Bizarro had been created by Lex Luthor. This incarnation of the character existed until the Modern Age.

Modern Age

Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new Bizarro was introduced, this one an imperfect clone of Superman created by Lex Luthor. This incarnation of the character was destroyed in his first appearance. A second imperfect clone was also briefly introduced, and died at the hands of Lexcorp. Following this Bizarro's death, the current incarnation of the character was introduced.

Major Story Arcs

Bizarro

Bizarro has various run-ins with Superman and related characters as both a hero and a villain. He falls in love with Lois Lane and attempts to kidnap her, but later creates his own Bizarro-Lois and retreats to the planet Htrae, a backwards Earth on which he is the greatest hero.

Emperor Joker

Bizarro is created by Joker, and allowed to live on after Joker's defeat. He is captured by General Zod, the Pokolistanian dictator, who tortures Bizarro for some time until he is rescued by Superman. Bizarro retreats to his newly-rebuilt Graveyard of Solitude.

Infinite Crisis

Bizarro is tricked by Professor Zoom into becoming a member of the Secret Society of Super Villains. During his time with the Society he becomes fascinated with the "pretty lights" created by attacking the Human Bomb, and beats the man to death in an effort to continue producing the explosions. At the Battle of Metropolis he was opposed and swiftly defeated by Superman and Kal-L.

One Year Later

During the One Year Later, Bizarro is captured and held by Lex Luthor. He spends most of his time imprisoned in a small room with only a television for company. During his captivity his speech patterns become more regularized, and he also develops a tendency towards outbursts of anger and violence.

Blackest Night

During the Blackest Night, Bizarro becomes involved in a confrontation with Black LanternSolomon Grundy, with whom he had had some association in the past. The pair fight, and Bizarro eventually emerges victorious, having thrown Grundy into the Sun.

The New 52

Subject B - Zero is awoken by his creator, Lex Luthor after the Crime Syndicate of America defeat the Justice League and publicly announce it to the world. He is immediately commanded to kill a security guard that is with Lex and after being shot by the panicked guard, does so with his bare hands. Now with Lex, he is given a replica of Superman's costume and accidently puts it on inside out.

As Subject B-Zero and Lex venture into Metropolis, they meet various super-villains on the run from the Crime Syndicate, including Black Adam, Captain Cold and Black Manta. With new allies, Subject B - Zero follows underground, however he is hesitant to walk into the darkness of the sewer system. Lex tells him the story of his sister and how he did nothing to save her, hearing this Subject B - Zero says "Bizzaro... try," and the team continue down the sewer system.

Now known as Bizzaro by Lex and his new allies, they break into Wayne Enterprises where they are greeted by Batman and Catwoman. Before they can fight, Power Ring and an ensemble of villains under the orders of the CSA appear and engage them all.

Bizarro and the rest of the Lex's Injustice League engage in battle with the Crime Syndicate. The mysterious masked prisoner the Crime Syndicate was holding is revealed to be Alexander Luthor, the Earth-3 version of Lex Luthor. Alexander attacks Lex, and Bizarro goes in to defend him. Bizarro proves to be no match for Alexander and is killed. In his dying moments, he states to Lex that there is no fixing him and that he is sorry. Lex appears to be enraged by the death of Bizarro stating that although Bizarro was a monster, he was his monster.

After the battle, Lex is shown once again again trying to recreate Bizarro. The scientists tell Lex that they should have a perfect clone of Superman in another ten years bu Lex claims that he does not want a perfect clone and instead wants him to be like when he was released the first time, a process that will take another five years.

Powers and Abilities

Bizarro possesses all of the powers of Superman, but several of these powers manifest as the opposite of Superman's. He is superhumanly strong and invulnerable, and capable of flight and superhuman speed, as well as possessing enhanced senses. His eyes emit freeze rays as opposed to Superman's heat vision, he is only capable of x-ray vision through lead, and he breathes flame in opposition to Superman's freeze breath, among other opposites. Under a blue sun he develops Bizarro Vision, the ability to create new Bizarro-like duplicate characters. He is vulnerable to blue kryptonite rather than green kryptonite.

Alternate Versions

Amalgam

Justice League of America: The Nail

Several Bizarro-like clones are created by Lex Luthor.

The Superman Monster

Bizarro appears as the monstrous creation of Viktor Luthor.

Superman: Red Son

A clone similar to Bizarro, referred to as "Superman 2," is created by Lex Luthor in order to provide some opposition for the USSR-based Superman. This version of Bizarro is a hero, and ultimately shows this by sacrificing his life in order to stop a nuclear missile from detonating and killing millions.

Trinity

Bizarro is created by Luthorcorp as part of Project Replica. He is sealed for some time in Antarctica before being released by Ra's Al Ghul, who uses him to attack various targets and incite panic and chaos around the world. He is later apparently killed.

Justice

Bizarro appears as a member of the Legion of Doom. This version of the character returns him to his Silver Age origins.

All-Star Superman

In the All-Star universe, Bizarros are essentially cloned worker drones from an alternate universe known as the Underverse. They are capable of infecting normal humans with the Bizarro mutation through touch.

Earth-2

Bizarro is one of of Darkseid's soldiers, and he was led by Steppenwolf. In this Universe, Bizarro is refered to as ''Brutaal.'' He was created by the corps of Earth 2 Superman, and he has power levels very high to the point where he was capable of Easily taking out Alan Scott. Bizarro had some of Superman's feelings in tact, such as Superman's feelings towards Lois Lane. Brutaal later killed his own mentor, Steppenwolf, and it wasn't revealed that Brutaal wasn't the real Superman until another Kryptonian managed to cause enough damage to him, so his true form was released.

Other Media

Animation

Challenge of the Super Friends

Bizarro appears as a member of the Legion of Doom in most episodes in this series. He is voiced by Bill Callaway.

Super Friends

Bizarro appears as an antagonist in this series, and eventually rejoins the Legion of Doom.

The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians

Bizarro appears in the episode "The Bizarro Super Powers Team," wherein a Bizarro Mr Mxyzptlk attempts to make Bizarro World into the most beautiful planet of all. He is voiced by Danny Dark.

The DCAU

Bizarro makes his first appearances in the DCAU in Superman: the Animated Series, which gives his origin as the post-Crisis cloning explanation. This version is initially unaware that he is a clone, but slowly deteriorates mentally and physically. He makes his first appearance in the episode "Identity Crisis", and appears in several episodes later in the show. He later appears in a number of Justice League Unlimited episodes, appearing as a member of the Legion of Doom. This version of the character appears to have had his mind altered in order to make him comply with Luthor. He is voiced in his Superman appearances by Tim Daly, and in his Justice League Unlimited appearances by George Newbern.

Film

Superman: Doomsday

A character never explicitly identified as Bizarro but clearly intended to resemble him appears in this animated film. A clone created by Lex Luthor, he rebels against his creator and attempts to combat villainy, but lacking a moral centre he goes too far. He is voiced by Adam Baldwin.

Television

Superboy

Bizarro appears in a number of episodes of this television series. His origin reflects the original Silver Age origin of the character. He makes his first appearance in the episode "Bizarro... The Thing of Steel". He is portrayed by Barry Meyers.

Lois & Clark

A version of Bizarro appears in the episode "Vatman". This incarnation is physically identical to Superman and shares all his powers, and also lacks Bizarro's characteristic speech patterns. He does appear to have limited mental capacity. He is portrayed by Dean Cain.

Smallville

A character referred to as Bizarro but bearing little resemblance to the comic character appears in this show, making his first appearance in the episode "Bizarro". This version of the character is a Kryptonian lab experiment that was trapped for some time in the Phantom Zone. He is portrayed by Tom Welling.

Video Games

Superman

Bizarro appears in this spin-off of the animated series. He is voiced by Tim Daly.

Superman: The Man of Steel

Bizarro appears as an antagonist in this game.

Superman Returns

Bizarro appears as both an antagonist and a playable character in this loose adaptation of the movie of the same name. He is voiced by John DiMaggio.

DC Universe Online

Bizarro appears in this game. He is voiced by John Mandia.

Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes

Bizarro can be obtained as downloadable content for this game. He is voiced by Travis Willingham.

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